I Put a Spell on You

by Nina Simone

Overview

"Ms. Simone's vocal and piano style make her a culture unto herself." —New York Times

A gorgeous, inimitable singer and songwriter, Nina Simone (1933-2003) changed the face of both music and race relations in America. She struck a chord with bluesy jazz ballads like "Put a Little Sugar in My Bowl" and powerful protest songs such as "Mississippi Goddam" and "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," the anthem of the American Civil Rights movement. Coinciding with the re-release of her famous Philips Recordings, here are the reflections of the "High Priestess of Soul" on her own life.

The mesmerizing autobiography of one of the most revered soul, jazz, and blues divas of our time-the late Nina Simone.

Author Biography: Stephen Cleary is a filmmaker living in London.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/14/2006
Label:	Verve
UPC:	0602498886922
Rank:	3300

Tracks

1. I Put a Spell on You
2. Tomorrow Is My Turn
3. Ne Me Quitte Pas
4. Marriage Is for Old Folks
5. July Tree
6. Gimme Some
7. Feeling Good
8. One September Day
9. Blues on Purpose
10. Beautiful Land
11. You've Got to Learn
12. Take Care of Business

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Nina Simone   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals
Horace Ott   Conductor
Rudy Stevenson   Guitar
Hal Mooney   Conductor

Technical Credits

Hal Mooney   Audio Production,Arranger,Producer
Earl Shuman   Composer
Leslie Bricusse   Composer
Leon Carr   Composer
Horace Ott   Arranger
Screamin' Jay Hawkins   Composer
Rudy Stevenson   Composer
Nina Simone   Performer
Bryan Koniarz   Producer
Anthony Newley   Composer
Ken Druker   Executive Producer
Charles Aznavour   Composer
A. Stroud   Composer
Marcel Stellman   Composer,Translation
Eve Merriam   Composer
Hollis King   Art Direction
Jalacy Hawkins   Composer
Jeff Willens   Mastering
Yves Stephane   Composer
Sherniece Smith   Art Producer
Irma Jurist   Composer
Kazumi Matsumoto   Series Design
Andrew Benjamin Stroud   Composer
Gene Martyn   Translation
Earl Shulman   Composer
Andy Stroud   Composer
Jacques Brel   Composer

Editorial Reviews

As emotive as her music...it skillfully weaves the personal with the political.

Rolling Stone

Simone grew up during the Depression in a small North Carolina town where, thanks to a farsighted music teacher and caring neighbors who paid for her lessons, she was trained as a classical pianist. After attending Juilliard on a scholarship she was rejected by the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (a setback she attributes to the fact that she is black), and she became a nightclub entertainer, singing and accompanying herself on the piano and, with her skillful improvisations of popular songs in classical style, quickly becoming a star. In the 1960s she joined the civil rights movement and became well known as a protest singer. Then, in the 1970s and '80s, disillusioned with the U.S., she went into self-imposed exile in Africa and Europe. Unfortunately, written with freelancer Cleary, her account of these later years, in which she concentrates on personal problems and a number of tiresome love affairs, lacks the interest of the early part of the book, which describes her unusual childhood and remarkable rise to fame. Photos not seen by PW. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Well-written life of singer-pianist Simone, as notable for its clear, strong voice as for its events, which are pretty strong too. Despite some wild moments, Simone's is a life to be proud of and she tells it modestly but with an emotional accuracy of recall that makes her book stand out from other celebrity lives. Born Eunice Waymon and raised in South and North Carolina, Simone was the sixth child of a preacher mother. Early seen as a child prodigy of the piano, she practiced five hours a day for decades, intent on becoming the first black concert pianist. But after a year at Juilliard and despite her gifts, she was turned down by the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia—she thinks for being black. To make a living, she took a job in a Philadelphia dive, playing and singing for drunks. She played classical/folk/pop, giving huge, sweeping interpretations of pieces like "I Loves You, Porgy" that could last three hours. Recording dates followed. Her marriages were duds, the second being to a cop with a Jekyll/Hyde personality, who became her manager and landed her in deep water with the IRS. Meeting playwright Lorraine Hansberry led Simone into civil-rights activity. She was hit hard by the deaths of Hansberry, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy, underwent some kind of mental breakdown, lost her home to the IRS, fled to Europe, and later, with Miriam Makeba, to Liberia. Liberia was paradise and, after a mad evening spent dancing stark-naked in a club for two hours, she was pursued by black millionaires. Trouble followed her, and she later wound up in Barbados as the mistress of the P.M. A failed suicide attempt was eventually followed by resolution of her tax problems anda comeback. Simone captures each person in her life with silverpoint outlines and never shies from baring the truth. A gripping life that rings true. (Sixteen b&w photographs—not seen.)

Kirkus Reviews